Economic Conditions

Savannah Builders See a Warm Spring Season Ahead

Savannah homebuilders are optimistic about the coming construction season, the Savannah Morning News is reporting (“Home builders bracing for busy spring,” by Adam Van Brimmer). “Home builders are readying for what many expect to be their busiest spring since the housing bust left dozens of planned subdivisions incomplete or untouched,” the paper reports. “Many of those neglected developments, recognizable by the PVC pipes sticking out of the ground where they would ostensibly hook up to new homes, began to see activity late last year as market conditions improved.”

Big national homebuilders are boosting their presence in the Savannah market, the paper reports: “The nation’s largest luxury home builder, Toll Bros., recently purchased The Reserve on Hutchinson Island. Another major industry player, K.B. Homes, is involved in a pair of developments nearby in Bluffton.” But Mark Konter of local builder Konter Quality Homes, currently president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Savannah, told the Morning News he’s not worried.

“Competition is good,” Konter said. “And with local builders maintaining control of the market through three cycles now — boom, bust and recovery — odds are local home builders will continue to do the majority of the new home sales business.”